Japanese Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba speaks in the presence of Japanese elementary school students studying in Beijing at the opening ceremony of the 2011 Japan Anime Festival in Beijing on Wednesday. Gemba placed high expectations on cultural communications such as animation, movie and TV drama to deepen mutual public understanding.?[China Daily]

China and Japan Wednesday pledged to boost political trust between the two nations during Japanese Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba's visit to Beijing.

Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi held talks with Gemba and described the bilateral relations as "generally good" since Japan's new cabinet took office in September.

Yang said China is ready to make joint efforts with Japan to further improve their strategic relationship of mutual benefit in a sustainable way.

"The leaders of the two nations have reached important consensus on furthering the strategic relationship of mutual benefit between China and Japan, which will play a significant role in guiding bilateral ties," Yang said.

Next year marks the 40th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between China and Japan. Yang said the two countries should take advantage of the anniversary to "consolidate and expand" the consensus, boost the political trust between the two neighbors, and deepen their cooperation in terms of economy, reconstruction of disaster-hit areas and disaster prevention and alleviation, Xinhua reported.

Gemba said the development of the strategic relationship of mutual benefit and the pragmatic cooperation is of critical significance for the two nations as well as the whole world.

Japan sees China's development as an opportunity and is willing to work together with the Chinese side to step up high-level exchanges and boost political trust with each other, he said.

He also pledged to enhance reciprocal cooperation with China, prompt people-to-people exchanges especially among youths of the two nations and step up coordination on international and regional issues in order to push bilateral ties to a new phase.

Premier Wen Jiabao also met with Gemba earlier on Wednesday and called on the country to work together with China to boost common development in East Asia.

As influential nations, China and Japan making such a joint effort will serve the common interests of not just the two countries, but also others in the region, Wen said.

"The just-concluded East Asia Summit has demonstrated a strong trend of forging solidarity, development and cooperation within the region," he said.

Gemba Wednesday also had a closed-door meeting with State Councilor Dai Bingguo before his evening departure for Tokyo.

Gemba was in Beijing to pave way for Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's planned visit to China in December. If his trip is made, Noda will be the first Japanese prime minister to visit China since the Democratic Party of Japan came to power in 2009.